Tea House

Car Port

Atherton Tablelands House

Most of my work to date consists of small, two to three bedroom houses with modest services, suitable for the 21st Century. Houses for people who see the surroundings as part of their environment, not as castles to command, but to use socially in conjunction with others.

I have been fortunate in working with deeply committed clients who have fully accepted my interpretation of their demands. Their projects have established a wonderful platform for experimenting with how we might live in a shrinking world where population explosion demands ever-more resourcefulness with the space available and the materials at our disposal. This touches on all aspects of a project from micro-spatial considerations to developing an evolving constructional system based on the use of prefabricated steel.

To allow the freedom to explore ideas and to ensure absolute consistency of concept, from first sketches through all the approvals processes to realisation, I work independently, without assistants. I work hand in hand with the many others engaged in even the smallest of building projects: town planners, engineers, landscape architects, builders and specialist tradespeople.

When I worked in a major international office, it became apparent that it was possible to conceptualise many more ideas at a domestic scale of work than on large projects. I therefore became less interested in designing big buildings and have concentrated my efforts instead on realising smaller buildings, working with individuals in whose lives I’ve been able to take an interest rather than the committees encountered on larger projects.

On completion of my Architectural studies at the Royal College of Art under James Gowan, I joined Foster Associates in London where, among other projects, I worked closely with Norman Foster for a number of years on the design of his own home. The lessons learnt from both these exceptional architects were important in understanding the craft of architecture. That no matter what symbiosis there may be between the conceptual and the pragmatic, a reciprocity exists as a matter of fact between idea and realisation. It is important therefore that every project is followed through from start to finish .

David Langston-Jones

David Langston-Jones has lectured in Australia and Japan and has been a regular visiting tutor and critic at the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales and the University of Technology Sydney.